Inconsistency in Minority Hiring Cited : Jobs: State report says high school district rate is 31.5% below the available labor force.

Minority employees in the Antelope Valley Union High School District are few and far between, according to an analysis by the state Department of Fair Employment and Housing.

The state agency sent a letter earlier this month to the district saying that blacks, Hispanics and Asian/Pacific Islanders are not employed at a rate consistent with the available labor force in Los Angeles County.

Just 14.9% of the high school district’s 798 employees were minorities as of Dec. 6, according to the analysis. Minority representation is 31.5% below the available labor force.

District officials, not disputing the numbers, said the situation is the result of rapid growth that changed the racial makeup of the region and is compounded by financial troubles that have kept the district from hiring new employees.

“Our district has gone through a tremendous change,” Supt. Robert Girolamo said. “We aggressively need to recruit staff to reflect our ethnic makeup.”

The analysis of school district’s work force is based on 1990 census data for the county, said Larry Laputz, office of compliance programs manager for the fair employment department.

“This report is simply telling them where they did not meet, where they exceeded or where they met labor force availability,” Laputz said. “It is just a snapshot view of what their work force looks like.”

Any public agency or private company that receives state funds must agree that it will not discriminate, he said. The state does not, however, set hiring quotas.

Women were well represented in the high school district, according to the analysis. Nearly 60% of district employees are female, which is 10.1% above the available labor force.

Hispanics were the most severely underrepresented minority group among the district’s employees, something local Latino groups noted months ago.

A coalition of Latino groups has asked the district to set goals for the recruitment, hiring and retention of Latino staff; provide recognition to Latino students; increase diversity awareness within the district and provide a yearly progress report to the community.

District trustees were scheduled Wednesday, the same time they received copies of the state’s monitoring note, to adopt an affirmative action report. The item was tabled, however, because of concerns by a majority of board members about language in the resolution attached to the plan.

Board member Sue Stokka objected to it because, she said, “affirmative action leads to quotas.”

She objected to the word best in a statement in the affirmative action plan resolution that said, in part, “cultural diversity . . . can best be taught by the presence of staff in the school setting which reflects mixed races and ethnic groups. . . .”

She also was opposed to the resolution’s conclusion, which said the district reaffirms its support and commitment to the principles of affirmative action. She asked that the word commitment be removed from the resolution.